We have been back in Tansen for 10 days now. Apologies that it's taken so long to get a blog post up. We are still in a state of transition between houses at the moment, and our stuff is all in disarray. We haven't quite settled into our routine yet...whatever that is!
We are in the process of moving into a new house, one that is a bit bigger, and a lot more private, than Jessica's old house. It also happens to have the best view out of all the houses on the compound...you can see the Annapurna mountain range right out of our living room and bedroom windows! We're sure not complaining about that. But it does need some work done on it...things like adjusting the plumbing in the bathroom so that our options for showering include something other than either scalding hot or freezing cold (there is no mixer for the shower), and adjusting the plumbing in the kitchen so that the sinks actually drain (we hear that water runs downhill, not uphill, even here in Nepal). There are also some repairs, and some paint jobs, that need to be done. It'll be another week or two before we're ready to move in. In the meantime, we're still living comfortably in Jessica's old house and so we're at least not living out of suitcases for the time being.
It works out well for Paul, because he is getting a chance to connect with the guys who work in the building/maintenance department of the hospital. They seem to really like him, and he is doing well relating to them and building relationship there. There is one young guy in particular named Raju who he's connecting well with, and we think this is a God connection. He speaks good English, too. Doing the house repairs also gives Paul a chance to find out how things work around here, what sorts of building materials are available, and just to have have a project to start out with as he gets his bearings here.
Meanwhile, Jessica's Nepali skills are being stretched to the max...asking about plumbing supplies, other building supplies, instructing tailors how to modify our queen-sized fitted sheets (which we brought from Canada thinking we'd be lucky if we even found a queen-sized mattress), to fit the king-sized mattress that we ended up buying. Fortunately our mattress is only 8 inches thick, and the sheets are made for 18 inch mattresses! But it did take a bit of head-scratching to figure out what to do to make them work, and then to try to explain it to the tailor. We were successful, though!
Jessica's official first day of work will be February 3. There was a group of 3 German short-term surgeons who arrived a few days after we did and are here for 3 weeks. This means that she isn't needed at the moment, and we're grateful for the time to adjust and settle in before work starts again.
Please keep praying for our adjustment back into life here, and for Paul as this is all new for him. He's doing great, though he isn't enjoying the amount of lentils that are eaten around here!
The internet isn't cooperating at the moment, so no photos for now. We hope to get a better internet connection soon.
We are in the process of moving into a new house, one that is a bit bigger, and a lot more private, than Jessica's old house. It also happens to have the best view out of all the houses on the compound...you can see the Annapurna mountain range right out of our living room and bedroom windows! We're sure not complaining about that. But it does need some work done on it...things like adjusting the plumbing in the bathroom so that our options for showering include something other than either scalding hot or freezing cold (there is no mixer for the shower), and adjusting the plumbing in the kitchen so that the sinks actually drain (we hear that water runs downhill, not uphill, even here in Nepal). There are also some repairs, and some paint jobs, that need to be done. It'll be another week or two before we're ready to move in. In the meantime, we're still living comfortably in Jessica's old house and so we're at least not living out of suitcases for the time being.
It works out well for Paul, because he is getting a chance to connect with the guys who work in the building/maintenance department of the hospital. They seem to really like him, and he is doing well relating to them and building relationship there. There is one young guy in particular named Raju who he's connecting well with, and we think this is a God connection. He speaks good English, too. Doing the house repairs also gives Paul a chance to find out how things work around here, what sorts of building materials are available, and just to have have a project to start out with as he gets his bearings here.
Meanwhile, Jessica's Nepali skills are being stretched to the max...asking about plumbing supplies, other building supplies, instructing tailors how to modify our queen-sized fitted sheets (which we brought from Canada thinking we'd be lucky if we even found a queen-sized mattress), to fit the king-sized mattress that we ended up buying. Fortunately our mattress is only 8 inches thick, and the sheets are made for 18 inch mattresses! But it did take a bit of head-scratching to figure out what to do to make them work, and then to try to explain it to the tailor. We were successful, though!
Jessica's official first day of work will be February 3. There was a group of 3 German short-term surgeons who arrived a few days after we did and are here for 3 weeks. This means that she isn't needed at the moment, and we're grateful for the time to adjust and settle in before work starts again.
Please keep praying for our adjustment back into life here, and for Paul as this is all new for him. He's doing great, though he isn't enjoying the amount of lentils that are eaten around here!
The internet isn't cooperating at the moment, so no photos for now. We hope to get a better internet connection soon.
